Everybody experiences ALA differently. I commiserated with one friend whose luck in picking conference sessions had been distinctly bad. My own experience was much more positive. Which is not to say that everything in every session I attended was perfect. The sound system in some of the Ballrooms left a lot to be desired. Despite these annoyances, the information conveyed was good.

One example was the Designing Digital Experiences for Library Websites panel, consisting of John Blyberg, Toby Greenwalt, David Lee King, and Bobbi Newman. Although I’ve heard all four of them at other conferences, there are always some new nuggets to think about. My takeaways included comments about involving both library users/patrons and staff. You don’t want to underestimate them, but you don’t want to scare them either. The tools you pick should correlate with what you want to accomplish. Social networking is essential – it’s not an option. People will talk about you, so you should be prepared. I loved the story of how Darien Library became the information clearinghouse, a hyperlocal information hub, plus staying open late so people could get warm, when a power outage hit the city last winter. And Toby’s story about responding to the Skokie public library patron who complained about the library on Facebook and turning that person into a library fan always impresses me.

The speakers were all from public libraries and acknowledged that it’s harder to accomplish things in academic settings, where there’s a slower change process.